For tech-free warmth, firepit hard to beat

The big picture: Great white sharks! Scary mega-waves! Strong rip currents! Just in time for the Labor Day weekend comes a flood of reasons to stay out of the water. But thanks to a generous chunk of privately donated change, the city of San Diego’s beloved but perpetually endangered beach fire pits are fully funded through next June and ready for S’mores duty.

Fire-pit factoids: There are 186 fire pits on San Diego’s city beaches, the majority of them in Mission Bay Park and Mission Beach. (For more information, go to sandiego.gov/lifeguards/beaches.)

The pits are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and you have to bring your own wood. On the weekends and holidays, beachgoers will nab their fire pits in the very-early morning, often by sleeping next to them. Keep that in mind if your Labor Day dreams include hot dogs roasting on an open fire.

Fire pits without tears: If your idea of big beach fun does not involve hauling anything heavier than a towel and a copy of Us Weekly, South Mission Beach could be the no-sweat pit experience you’ve been looking for.

On a recent weekday evening, parking in the beach lot was plentiful, with spaces available right next to the jetty fire rings. We pulled in, unloaded our chairs, Thai takeout and the ancient cord of wood we’d unearthed from the garage and proceeded to get our pyromania on. By sunset, my husband had gotten a nice blaze going while I dealt with a rat sighting (Eeeee!), along with a raging case of fire-pit envy.

A pit boss speaks: “This is an Eagle Scout fire!” 21-year-old Jeff Sinkiewicz crowed from the pit down the jetty from ours. Not only was his fire a thing of carefully constructed beauty, the East County native’s insights into the fire-pit mystique were pretty enlightening, too. If you’ve ever wondered why people get so hot and bothered when the fire pits end up on the civic chopping block, Sinkiewicz will be happy to tell you.

“I’ve been coming here my whole life. There is nothing friendlier than a bonfire,” he said of his postcard-ready fire, which was fueled in part by a pal’s old high-school homework papers. “It’s good to just sit here with your friends, tell stories and enjoy each other. We’re away from our (electrical), outlets and you can hear the waves and the wind. It’s one of those experiences you can never replace.”

Money pits: The fire pits cost about $150,000 a year to maintain. The regular cleanings involve picking up the nearly 2,000-pound pits, dumping the ashes and sifting through the debris for glass, nails and other objects.

“We are working on a long-term plan that will have a sustainable funding source every year so we don’t have to go through this again,” said Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who is working with the San Diego Foundation and the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau to keep the fire pits off the threatened-institutions list for good.

The verdict: What do we get for our fire-pit money? At South Mission Beach, the sky and the ocean were silvery and the fires were hubs of cheery low-tech activity. And as the church youth groups and the extended families and the celebrating college students played guitars, tossed footballs and kept their dogs out of the marshmallows, San Diego was definitely having an America’s Finest City moment. So was everybody else.

“This is part of who San Diego is,” said Connie Via of Jamul. “It’s bringing families together at the beach, getting warm and making memories.”